Silly Arab Games with Books and Sports…………
“ALGIERS - Several Algerian writers and intellectuals have signed a petition denouncing organisers of Algeria's international book fair for banning books from Egypt in a dispute over football. Intellectuals based in Algeria, Europe and North America signed the petition, initiated by Ahmed Bensaada, a doctor of physics and author living in Canada, dismissing the decision as "abhorrent." The signatories said the ban on Egyptian books was a "unilateral attempt to punish Egyptian literature and Algerian readers whereas the Algerian team continued to play football -- the initial source of the conflict -- with the Egyptian team."………”
Last year Egyptians showed that they were the kind of hosts they have become under 30 years of the Mubaraks. They cheerfully stoned and clubbed the bus carrying the Algerian national soccer team when they arrived in Cairo for a FIFA match. Now the Algerians have apparently returned the favor with banning Egyptians books. Sometimes Arabs are quite silly (okay, not sometimes silly, most of the time silly): they insert politics and nationalist hatred into places where they should not be: sports and books.
Cheers
mhg
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